Kansai - an amazing Japanese airport on an artificial island

The lack of free land in Japan has been observed for a long time, this problem is especially acute in large cities. Therefore, when it became necessary to expand the international airport of Osaka, it turned out that this was impossible. Around was a residential area, and the Japanese living there already suffered from excessive noise. In order to solve this problem, it was decided to build an airport where there is enough free space - in the sea bay. And the Japanese were not at all embarrassed by the fact that for this they would have to build a grandiose artificial island on viscous ground.

The airport was built in the Gulf of Osaka, and in order not to be destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis, it was designed taking into account all precautions. A huge rectangular island with sides of 4 and 1.2 kilometers was built in the bay. Pilots appreciated the maritime location, since neither tall buildings nor mountain ranges created obstacles for takeoff and landing of aircraft.

The airport is located 5 kilometers from the coast, and with mainland Japan it is connected by a two-tier bridge. The builders built an artificial island on a layer of soft clay, so they knew in advance that the island would plunge into the sea for some time. In 1994, in the first year after the opening of the airport, a subsidence of 50 centimeters was recorded. In the future, this figure began to decrease, but today the process of diving the airport continues. This video shows how the construction of a unique structure took place.

After the opening of the airport in Japan, a terrible earthquake occurred in 1995 (the Kobe earthquake), and in 1998 a typhoon raged over the Kansai airport. But the grandiose construction has withstood all these natural troubles, and the airport is successfully operating, serving more than 50,000 aircraft annually.